Ibn Battuta — "The inhabitants of this country are all polytheists, and they worship idols. The…"
The inhabitants of this country are all polytheists, and they worship idols. They have a temple where they perform their rites.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The children in this land run around naked, even in the marketplace. It is a strange sight to behold."
"I was once given a parrot that could speak many languages. It was a very intelligent bird, and I enjoyed its company."
"The people of this city are very fond of music and dancing. They have festivals every night, and the streets are always full of revelry."
"In Anatolia, I met a dervish who could make himself invisible. Or at least, that's what he claimed. I never saw him do it."
"The people of this country eat dogs and pigs, and they do not care about cleanliness."
About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.